Swimming season is in full swing, even in the oft-overcast capital of France. Word has it that temps will reach 104∘ F (40∘ C!) by the end of the week, so it’s only fitting we should remind you about Piscine Molitor.
Did you know that Johnny Weissmuller, the actor who played Tarzan, was once a lifeguard at Piscine Molitor? This gigantic, posh, Art Deco open-air swimming pool is located smack in the très bobo 16th arrondissement, and yet most Millennials will never have heard of it. That’s because it only reopened a year ago after being shuttered for a good quarter-century.
In the 1930s, Piscine Molitor was the place for rich Parisians to see and to be seen in all their denuded glory. But its heyday was certainly when fashion designer Louis Réard introduced the first modern two-piece bathing suit during a fashion show at Molitor in 1946. The place became a hot spot for jet-setters, and got turned into an ice-rink in the seventies. But pricey maintenance and shrinking popularity forced Molitor to shut down in 1989, and the mythical location remained abandoned for almost twenty years.
In the 90s, the rave generation inspired a wave of controversial projects that were proposed to City Hall to turn Molitor into a nightclub. After the novel ‘Life of Pi’ was published (‘Pi’ is a nickname for Piscine Molitor), the pool made the list of Monuments Historiques, making it ineligible for transformation. Finally, in 2007, a 65 million Euro deal was signed to recreate the Art Deco vibe, with one open-air pool and two indoors (with a four-star hotel and a restaurant thrown in for good measure). Our favorite spot: the confidential rooftop smoothie bar ‘Le Perchoir’, with a unique view on the open-air swimming pool — a perfect perch from which to take it all in.
